Volunteers do what they can to support troops

Tuesday

May 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMMay 26, 2009 at 3:09 AM

A small assembly line came together in Sandy’s Sewing Center recently as owner Sandy Ranson and eight volunteers set out to make at least 100 neck coolers. The coolers are filled with absorbent crystals that are wetted and then put on soldiers’ necks to keep them cool in high temperatures. The volunteers are among many local groups who’ve taken on goodwill projects to benefit deployed soldiers.

Amanda Reavy

A small assembly line came together in Sandy’s Sewing Center on Wednesday morning as owner Sandy Ranson and eight volunteers set out to make at least 100 neck coolers.

Neck coolers are filled with absorbent crystals that are wetted and then put on soldiers’ necks to keep them cool in high temperatures.

The task is part of the center’s “Sew in for Soldiers,” which takes place at least once a month at the store. Participants also make neck gaiters and blankets to send to troops overseas, primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“We don’t do it for us. We do it for our soldiers. Anything that might make their day a little more comfortable. That’s why we do it,” Ranson said.

The volunteers are among many local groups who’ve taken on goodwill projects to benefit deployed soldiers.

From sewing helmet liners to filling care packages, each individual or group utilizes their talents to show support for military members and their families.

One such volunteer is Jo Campbell, whose son-in-law, Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Rogers is stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan. Rogers’ unit adopted an orphanage when they arrived, and Campbell and some of her fellow members at First Christian Church in Springfield started to knit hats and scarves for the children.

Campbell said the group initially started out as a prayer shawl ministry and then grew from there.

“There’s about twelve of us, and we meet once a month, and we call ourselves ‘Blessed at Stitch,’” she said.

She and the church group also collected school supplies to send to the orphanage. The church’s Sunday school students also got involved.

Now that Rogers’ unit has completed their orphanage project, Campbell and her volunteers continue to knit clothing items and collect supplies for the soldiers’ “humanitarian aid drops” to the needy of Kabul.

In an e-mail, Rogers said the donated clothing, school supplies and food are wrapped in blankets that are distributed to the people through the local Afghan police. This process helps foster trust for the police force among the citizens, he said.

So far, Campbell says they’ve sent over seven boxes full of items.

Another group that keeps a steady stream of packages heading soldiers’ way is the Macoupin County Military Support Group.

Kay Stinnett of Carlinville founded the group in November 2006 to assist troops with ties to Macoupin County. In 2007, the support group won the Homefront Hero Award from then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.

The group now has 50 members, and some of them meet once a month to assemble care packages. So far, volunteers are averaging sending between 30 to 40 boxes a month. Packages are sent to individual soldiers as well as bases, group president Angie Greenwalt said.

The care package items include toiletries, snacks, magazines and books. Most of these items are donated or purchased with the support group’s funds.

Families can call and register their soldier to receive a box. The group also seeks soldiers’ name and addresses from the community.

Another portion of the group sews appreciation quilts for the soldiers out of denim squares.

“Their average age is 85, and they have had relatives back in World War II that served or were prisoners of war, and they feel like helping soldiers is their payback,” Stinnett said.

The support group also provides assistance for the family of deployed soldiers by offering help with babysitting, cleaning and other household chores.

Stinnett said the group also has a fund set up with the Federated Church in Carlinville to assist military spouses with household emergencies, such as car repairs, or with trouble managing bills.

One local anonymous donor wrote a $4,000 check for this fund, Greenwalt said.

While her 21-year-old son, Sam, is an Army Ranger, Greenwalt said anyone from the community is welcome to join the support group.

“Over half of our members don’t have direct relatives involved, they just think it’s a great thing to be doing. That’s something that’s really neat to see,” Greenwalt said.

Ranson said her “sew ins” also are open to anyone, regardless of sewing ability.

She got involved in sewing items for soldiers roughly five years ago after LaMoyne Miller of Springfield came by her shop and asked if she’d get involved. Miller has been a volunteer for Operation Helmetliner -- an organization founded by former Auburn resident Linda Swinford that has sent warming articles, including blankets, gaiters and helmetliners as well as neck coolers to troops -- for several years. Operation Helmetliner is now part of the Citizen Support for America’s Military (Citizen SAM) organization.

“I said to LaMoyne, ‘Let me see if I can get some volunteers together and see what we can do.’ So, that’s what we started doing in here. I’d been looking for something (to volunteer with), and this just seemed to have clicked,” Ranson said.

Since then, she’s opened her shop at least once a month, sometimes two when large amounts of neck coolers or gaiters are needed. Anywhere from four to 15 people may show up to help, many of them sewing center customers. And volunteers use all donated fabrics and threads or purchase the materials with donated money.

The group works on the neck coolers throughout the year because they typically last about a month.

On Wednesday morning, the nine volunteers were split into different stations that cut the fabric strips, iron them, mark the seam lines for the four pockets, straight-stitch the seam lines and then fill the pockets with crystals before putting them together. A volunteer then checks each neck cooler to make sure they’re properly made before attaching instructions for the soldiers.

“We want them to go out of here looking top-notch,” she said.

Last month alone, Ranson and her volunteers made 270 neck coolers, five blankets and two gaiters.

“I plan on doing this as long as necessary and as long as they’re volunteers to help me. You can tell, I can’t do this by myself. It’s all because of the volunteers that come into work,” she said.

Amanda Reavy can be reached at (217) 788-1525 or amanda.reavy@sj-r.com. To learn more about the Citizen Support for America’s Military (Citizen SAM) organization and its activities, go to www.citizensam.org.

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